Comparison of the effect of preheating on the flexural strength of giomer and nanohybrid composite resin

Background. Considering the increased use of preheating and novel resin-based materials to restore teeth, the present study investigated the impact of preheating on the flexural strength of a giomer and compared it with a nanohybrid composite resin. Methods. Two restorative materials (Beautifil II giomer and Alpha III nanohybrid composite resin) were used. Thirty rod-shaped samples (adding up to 60 samples) were prepared from the materials above and divided into two subgroups: with and without preheating (n=15). Before sample preparation, the giomer and nanohybrid composite resin tubes were preheated at 68ºC for 15 minutes in the preheating subgroups. In the subgroups without preheating, the tubes were kept in a room at 25ºC. Then the flexural strength was compared between the two groups with two-way ANOVA at a significance level of P<0.05. Results. The results showed significantly higher flexural strength in the preheated subgroups than in the non-preheated subgroups (P<0.001). In addition, the mean flexural strength values were significantly higher in the giomer groups than in the nanohybrid composite resin groups (P<0.001). Conclusion. Preheating increased the studied materials’ flexural strengths significantly. The flexural strength of the giomer restorative material was higher than that of the nanohybrid composite resin, irrespective of preheating.